THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Ranchi, June 10: The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the BJP today locked horns over the representation of Jharkhand in the Narendra Modi cabinet.
While the JMM accused the BJP of not giving a proper share to Jharkhand, the BJP asked the regional party to stop shedding crocodile tears.
Notably, Koderma MP Annapurna Devi has been appointed a Cabinet Minister while the Ranchi MP has been made a Minister of State.
JMM raises questions over Sanjay Seth
Raising questions over Ranchi MP Sanjay Seth, he said that the BJP could not find a single ‘son of the soil’ to give a ministerial berth in the Union Cabinet. Seth has been appointed a minister of state.
He said that there were several ‘son of the soil’ MPs, who were senior to Seth. “But such an MP was made a minister who was neither a native of Jharkhand nor did he raise a single question on the issues related to Jharkhand, including closed HEC,” he pointed out.
BJP has ignored AJSU too
Bhattacharya said that the BJP has also ignored the AJSU party, which has one MP. He said that MPs of each party were given ministerial posts but AJSU’s Chandra Prakash Chaudhary was denied the ministerial post. He said that the AJSU is an old ally of BJP, a local party but they were not given the ministerial post.
JMM seeks two more Cabinet berths
Bhattacharya said that a total of seven berths are vacant in the Union Cabinet. He demanded from the BJP that out of these seven berths, one more Cabinet Minister and one Minister of State with independent charge should be given to Jharkhand.
JMM sheds crocodile tears for tribals, natives: BJP
Countering the JMM, BJP’s state spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo said the JMM should also clarify its position on ministers in the Champai Soren cabinet, Mithlesh Thakur and Banna Gupta. They too are not the sons of the soil.
Pratul said that the JMM is shedding crocodile tears in the name of tribal and natives given the Assembly elections due in November-December.
“The basic mantra of BJP is Sabka Saath, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Vikas. Special attention has been given to regional and social balance in the central cabinet. The JMM, which is doing drama in the name of tribals and natives, should also clarify the situation in detail about ministers Mithlesh Thakur and Banna Gupta. However, the JMM has a long record of sending people like KD Singh, Muktinath Upadhyay and RK Anand to the Rajya Sabha,” he added.
Pratul said the JMM-led coalition government does not want the development of tribals and natives here under any circumstances.
“As per their promise, there should have been 22.5 lakh government jobs here in four and a half years. But this announcement proved to be a hoax. Students demanding their rights were beaten up. Women’s harassment reached record levels. Former Chief Minister Hemant Soren and current minister Alamgir Alam are both in jail on corruption charges. The law-and-order situation in the entire state has collapsed,” he alleged.
NDA was ahead in 50 seats
Pratul said that this time, the NDA was ahead in 50 seats in the assembly constituencies of the Lok Sabha elections.
“The Chief Minister and the Speaker of the State Assembly could not get the candidate to win in their respective areas. This coalition was reduced to only 29 seats despite being in power. They have got a glimpse of the result of the state assembly elections to be held at the end of 2024. That is why they are making baseless statements in panic. It would have been better if JMM had worried about itself,” he maintained.
